ROME, NOV. 4, 2008 (Zenit.org).- According to his own testimony, the Pope who declared the dogma of the Assumption saw the "miracle of the sun" four times.

This information is confirmed by a handwritten, unpublished note from Pope Pius XII, which is part of the "Pius XII: The Man and the Pontificate" display. The display opened in the Vatican to the public today and will run through Jan. 6.

A commissioner of the display and a Vatican reporter for the Italian daily Il Giornale, Andrea Tornielli, explained to ZENIT that the note was found in the Pacelli family archives. It describes the "miracle of the sun," an episode that until today had only been affirmed by the indirect testimony of Cardinal Federico Tedeschini (1873-1959), who recounted in a homily that the Holy Father had seen the miracle.

Pius XII wrote, "I have seen the 'miracle of the sun,' this is the pure truth."

The miracle of the sun is most known as the episode that occurred in Fatima, Portugal, on Oct. 13, 1917. According to the Fatima visionaries, Mary had said there would be a miracle that day so that people would come to believe. Thousands had gathered at the site of the visions, and the sun "danced," reportedly drying instantaneously the rain-soaked land and spectators.

Confirming the dogma

Pius XII's note says that he saw the miracle in the year he was to proclaim the dogma of the Assumption, 1950, while he walked in the Vatican Gardens.

He said he saw the phenomenon various times, considering it a confirmation of his plan to declare the dogma.

The papal note says that at 4 p.m. on Oct. 30, 1950, during his "habitual walk in the Vatican Gardens, reading and studying," having arrived to the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, "toward the top of the hill […] I was awestruck by a phenomenon that before now I had never seen."

"The sun, which was still quite high, looked like a pale, opaque sphere, entirely surrounded by a luminous circle," he recounted. And one could look at the sun, "without the slightest bother. There was a very light little cloud in front of it."

The Holy Father's note goes on to describe "the opaque sphere" that "moved outward slightly, either spinning, or moving from left to right and vice versa. But within the sphere, you could see marked movements with total clarity and without interruption."

Pius XII said he saw the same phenomenon "the 31st of October and Nov. 1, the day of the definition of the dogma of the Assumption, and then again Nov. 8, and after that, no more."

The Pope acknowledged that on other days at about the same hour, he tried to see if the phenomenon would be repeated, "but in vain -- I couldn't fix my gaze [on the sun] for even an instant; my eyes would be dazzled."

Pius XII spoke about the incident with a few cardinals and close collaborators, such that Sister Pascalina Lehnert, the nun in charge of the papal apartments, declared that "Pius XII was very convinced of the reality of the extraordinary phenomenon, which he had seen on four occasions."

Son of Our Lady

Tornielli told ZENIT that there was always a close link between the life of Eugenio Pacelli and the mystery of the Virgin Mary.

"Since childhood," he said, "Eugenio Pacelli was devoted [to Our Lady] and was registered in the Congregation of the Assumption, which had a chapel close to the Church of Jesus. A devotion that seemed prophetic, since he would be precisely the one to declare the dogma of the Assumption in 1950."

The future Pope celebrated his first Mass on April 3, 1899, at the altar of the icon of Mary "Salus Populi Romani" in the Basilica of St. Mary Major. "And then," Tornielli continued, "Eugenio Pacelli received episcopal ordination from Pope Benedict XV in the Sistine Chapel on May 13, 1917, the day of the first apparition of the Virgin of Fatima."

As Pope, in 1940, he approved the Fatima apparitions, and in 1942, consecrated the entire world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

As well, Pius XII often spoke with Sister Lucia, the visionary of Fatima, and he asked her to transcribe the messages she received from the Virgin. He thus became the first Pope to know the "third secret of Fatima," which Pope John Paul II would later make public.

For all the sophomoric Atmospheric Sciences 101 students here that meteorological explanation was thoroughly considered and rejected within days of the occurrences. The Vatican had considerable scientific analytic support which is engaged in the case of suspected miracles.

This isn't what I would describe as a run-of-the-mill sundog. I have had the opportunity to observe phenomena such as this in the arctic. As you observe, depth perception is nonexistent, you almost swoon. You literally look away, rub your eyes, and expect not to see what you've just seen. Yes, I'm sure it's much more likely that a miraculous event took place rather than an unusual atmospheric phenomena interpreted by a bunch of Portuguese peasants or a guy who probably never left Italy his whole life.

Perhaps you could provide the Vatican's dissertation on why there was no meteorological explanation for the events at Fatima. I would be most interested, even considering that the Vatican may not be the most impartial of analytical bodies. All of us dumb sophomores await your findings.

You are correct: "[The] Vatican may not be the most impartial of analytical bodies". In fact, it is the most critical and skeptical. Any kind of pedestrian and commonplace explanation for seemingly miraculous phenomena is given the "benefit of the doubt" in the beginning until it can be dismissed. This is because the Vatican requires the highest standard of evidence for those occurrences that are pronounced miraculous in the end.

No, I'm not going to spend an afternoon and wade through volumes of Italian to satisfy your request. But rest assured many of us have seen references to these investigations.

“I’m sure it’s much more likely that a miraculous event took place rather than an unusual atmospheric phenomena interpreted by a bunch of Portuguese peasants or a guy who probably never left Italy his whole life.”

How illogical, how downright unscientific, to form an opinion on the basis of a subjective estimate of likelihood, rather than an examination of the evidence.

Italy is not at all the Arctic. Rome is at 41.5N, about 60 degrees off the pole. My point is you just claimed it must be a sun dog, and implied the Pope would not know the difference. This wasn't something he issued a press release over, this was something he felt was a private revelation.

I never “swooned” while seeing a sun dog. The sun also doesn't appear to spin.

You said, “he never left Italy” and all the Portuguese are peasants, implying that they must be idiots and not as smart as you. How fortunate for you. Do you know who saw the sun dance at Fatima? Of course it can't be a miracle because you know better. How fortunate for you.

Maybe you should learn why we put Catholic Caucus in the topic.

20
posted on 11/05/2008 12:27:51 PM PST
by Dominick
("Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought." - JP II)

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